Street-car advertising device.



Patented Nov. 1,1910.

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STREET OAR ADVERTISING DEVICE. APPLIUAIION FILED JAN.22. 1909.

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W. F. SWEET. STREET UAE ADVERTISING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1909. Patented Nov. i,

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W. P. SWEET. STREET GAR ADVERTISING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1909. 974,307. Patented Nov. 1,1910.Y

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AFigi ONO UNITED STATES WELCOME F. SWEET, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

STREET-CAR ADVERTISING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

Application filed January 22, 1909. Serial N0. 473,776.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, WELCOME F. SWEET, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Street-Car Advertising` Devices, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to v which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspeclfication2 in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved device.Fig. 2 is an elevational view. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view.Fig. 4 is a detailed view of one of the frames. Fig. 5 is a detailedplan of one end of the bottom track. Fig. 6 is a similar view of anintermediate portion of the bottom track. Fig. 7 is a cross sectionalview illustrating the chain in position in the bottom track.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in advertisingdevices, designed particularly for use in street-cars.

The object of my present invention is to arrange a series of advertisingcards in frames connected at intervals to an endless chain, which chaincauses the travel of said frames lengthwise the car.

My invention consists in mounting card frames at intervals upon anendless chain and providing guide-ways, constituting tracks, in whichthe frame moves, and suitable switches for shifting the card framesfromthe rear or hidden track, to the front or exposed track, and viceversa.

In the drawings 1, indicates the frame, preferably made of sheet metal,in which an advertising card 2 is arranged. This frame has a perforatedlug 3 at one corner for connectlon tothe endless chain, and guiding lugs4 and 5 for coperation with the guideways, the lugs 5 being adjustableon the frame 1.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated a `well known form ofstreet-car construction, in which 6 represents the top chord of the sideframing, 7 the inside face molding, 8' the inside crown roof sheeting,and 9 the inside deck molding. On the timber 6 is arranged' a series ofsupports 10, for the upper track. On each side of these supports arechannel guide ways 11, in which is arranged an endless chain 12, saidchain passing over sprockets 13 and 14, the lat- I ter of which isdriven by suitable power, in l the form of a directly connected motor,or through a belt 15. At intervals along its length, chain 12 isprovided with posts 17 which extend up through the channel of theguideways 11, for engagement with the lugs 3 on the frames. Theadjustable lug 5 on the bottom of the frame fits in the channels of theguide-ways 11, and thus the lower edge of the frame is not only guidedin its movement, but prevented from lateral displacement. The upper lugs4 and 5 rest upon wear plates 18, constituting channeled guide-ways. Theframes can be removed at any time, by lifting them up into the guideways18, and disconnecting the lugs 3 from their posts 17. This permits thelower edge of the frame to be swung inwardly past the face molding 7.

Assuming that the frames are in proper position on the chain and thechain is bein driven at the desired speed, the operation o the device isas follows: Referring to Fig. 2, it will be observed that the severalframes on view are pivotally connected to the posts 17, at their lowerleft hand corners. These frames are intended to move in the direction ofthe arrow. I will describe the travel of one of these frames withreference particularly to the top tracks, beginning with the positionshown by dotted lines at the left in Fig. 1. The first movement of thelug 5 is to pass from the rear track, by way of a connection channel,onto the front track a. The frame is now carried the length of the carin a straight line, until a jog or bend in the track is encountered,which jog is provided for the purpose of throwing the rear end of theframe to one side to enable the opposite moving adjacent frame to clearproperly. Vhen the lug 4 reaches this ortion of the track, the exposedframe wil be moving to the. right and the hidden or back frame will bemovin to the left. The former will be thrown Eforwardly, and the latterrearwardly, and their contiguous edges will clear each other, thuspermitting a reversal of movement without interference. Just beforereaching the right hand end of the track, the forward lug 5 passes ayielding switch tongue 19 and enters the rear track c, and at the sametime the rear lug 4 passes a yielding switch tongue 20 at the end of thejog yor bend b. The frame having been brought to a position of rest, now

starts to travel leftwardly, 4the lug l riding l the switch tongue Q0,and being guided into i the rear track c, and the lug 5, now the rearlug, with respect to its direction of travel, is located in the reartrack c, and is prevented from again entering the front track a by theyielding switch tongue 19. The plat-es now j' travel to their startingposition in a straight line, being practically hidden all the way untilthey approach the extremity of their leftward movement, at which thelugs traverse the bend Z in the reartrack, and successively pass theswitch tongue 2l, at the end thereof. At the time that the lug 5 ispassing the switch tongue 2l, the lug 4t is passing a yielding switchtongue 22, and entering the front track a. When the frame reaches thisposition it has made a complete cycle, and is in the position from whichit started. Then the frame starts to move to the right, the top lug 5will ride along the switch-tongue 21, and enter the track a, in positionto travel in a straight line throughout the length of the car. The jogor bend d is for the same purpose as the jog or bend Z). rlhe bend Zthrows the rear end of the frame traveling leftwardly to the rear, oroutwardly'with respect to the car, soy as to clear the adjacent frame,as before described. By these jogs or bends it is possible to reduce thespace between the frames to a minimum, as it is only necessary for themto clear each other in passing from the rear track onto the front, andvice versa.

The travel of the frames with respect to the bottom track, is asfollows: The endless chain does not extend the full length of 'the car,a space being provided at the right, as shown in Fig. l. Assuming thatthe frame is in the position shown by dotted lines at the left in Fig.l, the lug 3 will, following the path of the chain, enter upon the frontguide-way e, and at the same time the bottom lug 5 will be deflected bya switch, into said front track e. The lower portion of the frame willthus be caused to travel in a straight path until the lug 5 is deflectedoutwardly by the bent portion of the track and past a yielding switchtongue 23. The lug will be carried around the sprocket let by the chain,and this corner of the frame will be moved from its forward to its rearposition, the lug 3 eventually entering upon the straight portion of therear track g. The frame before starting on its leftward movement, willhave its bottom lug 5 deflected onto the rear track g by the switch 23,and said framel will travel, hidden from view, on said rear track in astraight line to its starting position. In traveling back to itsstarting position, the post 17, to which the lug 3 is connected, forcesa spring switch tongue 24 to one side, and passes without interruptionto and around the sprocket 13.

lVhen, however the bottom lug 15 comes in contact with said switchtongue, it is deflected into one branch of the Y shape track if., andpast a switch tongue 25. Before starting to move to the right, thebottom lug 5 passes along the other branch of the Y shape track zy ontothefront track f.

I am aware that minor changes in the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts of my device can be made without in the least departingfrom the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. In an advertising device, the combination with an endless carrier,frames pivotally connected thereto, guide ways in which said frames aremounted, switches in said guide ways, and jogs or bends in said guideways for effecting a clearance between the frames at the point ofreversal.

2. In an advertising device, the combination wit-h an endless carrier,frames pivotally connected thereto, guide ways constituting tracks withwhich said frames cooperate, there being substantially parallel tracksat the top and bottom edges of said frames, cross-overs connecting theparallel tracks and spring switches arranged at the cross-over pointsfor properly directing the frames.

3. In an advertising device, the combination with an endless carrier, offrames connected to said carrier, guideways constituting tracks in whichsaid frames travel, jogs in said guide-ways for elfecting a clearancebetween the frames at the points of reversal and adjustable lugs on saidframes engaging in said guideways.

4. In an advertising device for street cars, the combination with upperand lower guide-ways arranged above the car windows, of an endlesscarrier operating in the lower one of the guide-ways, a series of cardcarrying frames arranged to move longitudinally between the guide-ways,which frames are curved transversely to conform to the curvature of thatportionl of the car between the guide-ways, means whereby each frame isconnected to the endless carrier at one end and guide lugs on the frame,which lugs engage in the guide-ways, and there being jogs or bendsformed in the lower guideway adjacent its ends for eecting a clearancebetween the frames at the points of reversal.

5. In an advertising device for street cars, the combination with upperand lower guide-ways arranged above the windows in a car, of an endlesscarrier operating on the lower one of the guide-ways, a series of cardcarrying frames, each connected at one corner to the endless carrier,guide lugs on the remaining corners of the frame, which guide lugsengage in the guide-ways, and there being jogs or bends formed in thelower guide-way adjacent its ends for effecting a clearance between theframes at the points of reversal.

6. In an advertising device for street cars, the combination with upperand lower guide-ways arran ed above the windows in the car, of an enless carrier operating on the lower one of the guide-ways, a series ofcard carrying frames arranged to move longitudinally between theguide-ways, one corner of each frame being connected to the endlesscarrier, guide lugs on the remaining three corners of each frame, a )airof which uide lugs are adjustable, an there being )ogs or bends formedin the lower guide-way adjacent its ends for ei'ectin a clearancebetween the frames at the omts of reversal. In testimony whereofhereunto aix my signature in the resence of two witnesses, thls 19th dayof anuary 1909.

WELCOME F. SWEET. Witnesses:

F. R. CORNWALL, LENoRE CLARK.

